Follow You Home
by Linxcat
Summary: Sirius Black was alone. He was alone, bitter, vengeful and, most of all, cold. They didn't really bother about heaters at Azkaban. lyrics from Nickelback's 'Follow You Home'


_Well you can dig me up a grave, and try and stick me in the __ground,__ well you can tie me to the bed, and try and beat me half to death, but you can never keep me down_

Sirius Black was alone. He was alone, bitter, vengeful and, most of all, cold. The cell guards didn't bother about warmth at Azkaban. They didn't bother about anything. A dementor's only concern was about whether its prey was getting away.

_Well you can stick me in a hole, and you can pray all day for rain, you can shoot me in the leg, just to try and make me beg, and you can leave me there for days_

He wrapped his arms around himself and rubbed at the feeble excuse for a garment that he was wearing. Around him he could hear the maddened screams as the prisoners succumbed to the wrath of the dementors. Spending too long with no hope or happiness drove even the most sensible man insane.

_And I'll say alive, just to follow you home, and I will survive_

The closest thing to smile that he could manage flittered across his face. The dementors could drive a sane man crazy, but could do nothing to those who had already lost their sanity. Such as him; he had driven himself insane with the grief and anger over the death of James and Lily, and now the dementors could not touch him. He had no happiness for them to take. Just bitter regrets and they could have as much of them as they wanted.

_Cause you're my Mississippi Princess, you're my California Queen_

If you were not driven mad by the dementors or your own company, it was the echoing, gasping screeches of those around you that robbed you of your sanity. Some bright spark had decided to put him in the cell opposite his darling cousin, Bellatrix. This had resulted in several days of cussing matches and insult-flinging, now resulting in steely silence. He hated her. He hated everything about her; her name, her morals, her delights which were the most morbid he had ever heard tell of and which she insisted in recalling to torture him with. He hated her husband and brother-in-law, Rodolphus and Rastaban Lestrange, murdering swines. Narcissa kept out of it though, clever girl, hanging around the sidelines, ready to switch sides if she ever felt her little family were threatened. She stopped Lucius participating openly, but made sure their name was kept in the Dark Lord's good books.

_Like the__ Duchess of Detroit, and every city in between_

But with the other two Black sisters, you could not forget the third. Dear Andromeda, his favourite cousin. How was she faring now, that she believed he was a murderer who killed his best friends? They had been close as kids – teaming up together when Bella would try and pick on them. Now she would be heartbroken, all evidence pointing to the fact that he was a traitor to their cause, a true Black. And little Nymphadora, too. He'd visited her a few times in his teens, and she'd taken quite a shine to Remus. So much so, that Andromeda had owled him a few days later and told him that she had pledged to marry the young werewolf. Sirius wished with all his heart that he could see that look on Remus's face again, watch the dark blush spread across his cheeks. Dora had been embarrassed too when he had reminded her when she was older. She used to write to him every week, telling him all about what she did at home. She was only eight, poor thing, when he was thrown into Azkaban. He hoped she didn't hate him.

_You can slap me in the face__, y__ou can scream profanity__, l__eave me here to die alone but__I'll still follow you home__I'll still follow you home_

Merlin, he missed it. Life. He missed happiness, smiling, laughing, his friends...though he supposed the only one he had left now was Remus. Poor Remus. Sirius bitterly regretted not trusting him and even at once point being suspicious of him. How could he have ever not trusted Remus, when the real traitor was right under his nose?

_You can make a couple calls, and tell your brothers I'm in town, put a bounty on my head, and tell my parents that I'm dead, and hope to heck I'm never found_

As morning dawned, he heard Bella in the cell across begin to stir, and in his head, memories of the past stirred too. He remembered when she'd started threatening him – "Give it up, blood traitor, or taste _avada_!" – all those years ago when he'd run away from home. In fact, his cousin had started hating him the moment she found out he'd been sorted into Gryffindor. He was different, he wasn't right, he didn't follow the rules...and she hated him for it. So she'd sent everyone she knew after him; he'd had many a home call from various members of the Lestrange family and their friends, most of them resulting in several muggle mind wipes and him changing address at short notice.

_You can steal me the keys, to your daddy's Cadillac, you can tamper with the breaks, you can call it a mistake, and pray I'm never coming back_

She'd even had the nerve to tamper with his flying motorbike. That glorious machine was his pride and joy, the first thing he'd bought when he left home, and Bella had gone and cut the bloody brakes! Thankfully he had been with Remus at the time, because if he was on his own he would most likely have plummeted to his death. Like the motorbike. Damn that Bella!

_And I'll say alive, just to follow you home, and I will survive_

Sirius looked up as sunlight streamed through the grimy windows. There was hope, though. Hope for him. Hope for revenge. Because he most certainly was going to get revenge, one way or another.

_I'll still follow you __home,__ I'll still follow you home_

Oh yes. He'd been sitting in this stinking jail cell for twelve years, twelve long years, and he finally found some hope. It was in the form of a boy, no more than thirteen years old, who had been the first and only person to defeat the Dark Lord. The son of his best friend, his godson. The saviour of the wizarding world.

_Well you can dig me up a grave, and try and stick me in the __ground,__ well you can tie me to the bed, and try and beat me half to death, but you can never keep me down_

His name brought warmth to his heart, his one comfort as he sat, losing his sanity day by day, rotting in the cell.

Harry Potter. The boy who lived. The boy who loved. Harry Potter would help him take revenge on the man that killed his parents. Sirius was sure of it. And he had a plan to do what no one had ever done before. He would be the first to ever break out of Azkaban.

_And I'll say alive__, j__ust to follow you home__, a__nd I will survive_

And they could do what they liked to him, he didn't really care. They could threaten him all they liked, and Bella could swear at him by everything under the sun, but he didn't care. Because he was going to escape. He would find Pettigrew, that slimy rat, and make him pay. Then he'd make Bellatrix pay by helping Harry defeat her master.

_Cause__ you're my Mississippi Princess, y__ou're my California Queen__, y__ou're my Duchess of Detroit__, a__nd every city in __between_

Sirius ran a hand through his long jet hair. A frown creased his once handsome face. First thing he would do when he escaped, he decided, was have a shower. Then he would eat and eat, till he could eat no more. Then he would plan, and he would wait. Moony would help him; word had spread that he was teaching at Hogwarts this school year. That was the best thing he'd heard in twelve years, it had made him crack a real smile. He would go to Hogwarts and he would find his best friend and his godson.

_Y__ou can slap me in the face__, y__ou can scream profanity__, leave me here to die alone but_

As the dawn broke over the desolate building in the middle of the ocean, Sirius Black let out a bark of laughter. There was nothing like clearing yourself of a murder charge, and that was exactly what he was going to do. He was going to do something no man had ever done, and yet he didn't find that daunting. He was grimly focused on getting his sweet, sweet revenge.

_I'll still follow you __home__I'll still follow you home_

Peter Pettigrew, wherever he was, better watch out. Black was back in town. And it was payback time.


End file.
